This invention relates to a film conveying apparatus for conveying a film provided with a photosensitive layer composed of a thermally developable photosensitive material for example.
It has been known a system wherein after the information of an image photographed by means of an X-ray radiographing apparatus such as a CT apparatus or an image photographing apparatus for medical use such as an MRI apparatus is subjected to image processing operations such as a gradation processing, the image data are sent to an image recording apparatus such as a laser imager, and the image is recorded on a film provided with a photosensitive layer composed of thermally developable photosensitive material for example through the scanning by a laser beam which is driven and controlled in accordance with said image data.
An image recording apparatus as described in the above is equipped with a film cartridge capable of being mounted and dismounted for feeding a film to a recording section; a stack of plural sheets of film loaded in this film cartridge are fed one by one by means of a film conveying apparatus of the image recording apparatus mainframe to carry these film sheets to the recording section.
As an example of the conventional film conveying apparatus, there has been set forth in Tokkaihei 07-225452, a type in which the films are loaded onto the film cartridge by manually drawing the barrier sack toward the outside of the film cartridge after putting the barrier sack containing the stack of plural films on the film cartridge.
Further, there has been set forth in Tokkouhei 07-17280, another type in which the films are loaded onto the film cartridge by rolling the barrier sack onto a reel in the film cartridge after putting the barrier sack containing the stack of plural films on the film cartridge. In this type, when all of the films loaded on the film cartridge are consumed, the barrier sack rolled up in the film cartridge is removed so as to load new barrier sack containing the stack of new plural films.
In the film cartridge for any type, there is provided a shading plate for covering film sheets inside so as not to expose them to light when the cartridge has been taken out from the image recording apparatus. While the film is carried, that is, after the film cartridge is attached to the image recording apparatus mainframe, this shading plate is opened for carrying the film to the image recording apparatus mainframe, to secure the conveyance path to the film conveying apparatus. When the conveyance path is secured, the film conveying apparatus drives a suction cup for carrying film sheets loaded in the film cartridge one by one, to carry film sheets to the recording section.
In carrying film sheets, when film sheets in the cartridge have run out, the film cartridge is taken out of the image recording apparatus mainframe, the shading plate is opened, and film sheets are supplied from the opening.
Incidentally, during the conveyance of film sheets, when a film sheet is jammed in the film conveying apparatus, in order to solve this jamming (to make the jam processing), it is required to close the shading plate and dismount the film cartridge while the shading for the remaining film sheets in the cartridge is kept enough. However, when the shading plate is closed, there is a possibility that a film sheet creased due to the jamming remains inside the film cartridge, and although the film cartridge is again mounted after the jam processing in the film conveying apparatus, a proper conveyance cannot be carried out owing to the creased film sheet. Further, if the shading plate is opened for removing the creased film sheet from the film cartridge, the inside of the film cartridge is exposed to light, which makes the remaining normal film sheets exposed to light, and the film sheets become useless.
Furthermore, because the film conveying apparatus is disposed in the image recording apparatus mainframe, if a film sheet is jammed in this film conveying apparatus, it is required to carry out the operation in the mainframe part of the image recording apparatus after the film cartridge is taken out, which makes the jam processing difficult.
To overcome the abovementioned drawbacks in conventional film conveying apparatus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a film conveying apparatus, which makes it possible to easily conduct the jam processing while maintaining the light-shading capability for the photosensitive film.
Accordingly, to overcome the cited shortcomings, the abovementioned object of the present invention can be attained by film conveying apparatus described as follow.
(1) A film conveying apparatus, which is drawably mounted onto a main frame of an image-forming apparatus, for conveying a photosensitive film into the image-forming apparatus, the film conveying apparatus comprising: a film stacking section (hereinafter, also referred to as film containing means) to stack a plurality of photosensitive films on it; a conveying device to convey the plurality of photosensitive films, stacked on the film stacking section, one by one from uppermost one, the conveying device being movable between at least two positions of a film conveying position at which the photosensitive film is conveyed into the image-forming apparatus and a film supplying position at which the plurality of photosensitive films are supplied onto the film stacking section; a first shading member that encloses both the film stacking section and the conveying device, and that has a conveyance opening from which the photosensitive film is conveyed out by the conveying device so as to maintain a light-shading state for both the film stacking section and the conveying device when said conveying device parks at said film conveying position; a second shading member, being movable relative to the first shading member, to open and close the conveyance opening; and a shading-member moving device (hereinafter, also referred to as shading-piece opening/closing means) to move the second shading member so as to open and close the conveyance opening.
(2) The film conveying apparatus of item 1, further comprising: a shutter member to shade an end-seal portion of a barrier sack, in which the plurality of photosensitive films are packed, when the barrier sack is stored in the film stacking section to break the end-seal portion of the barrier sack; and a shutter-member driving device to drive the shutter member so as to shade the end-seal portion of the barrier sack while the conveying device moves from the film supplying position to the film conveying position.
(3) The film conveying apparatus of item 1, wherein the first shading member is drawable from the main frame of the image-forming apparatus, when the shading-member moving device moves the second shading member so as to close the conveyance opening.
(4) The film conveying apparatus of item 1, wherein the shading-member moving device moves the second shading member so as to open the conveyance opening, after the conveying device moves to the film conveying position.
(5) The film conveying apparatus of item 1, wherein, when the shading-member moving device moves the second shading member so as to close the conveyance opening, the second shading member is driven by an urging force for moving the second shading member into a closing state.
(6) The film conveying apparatus of item 1, wherein the first shading member also has an installation opening from which a barrier sack, in which the plurality of photosensitive films are packed, is installed on the film stacking section; and the film conveying apparatus further comprising: a third shading member, being manually movable relative to the first shading member, to open and close the installation opening.
Further, to overcome the abovementioned problems, other film conveying apparatus, embodied in the present invention, will be described as follow:
(7) A film conveying apparatus, characterized in that
in the film conveying apparatus, which is drawably mounted onto a main frame of an image-forming apparatus, and conveys a photosensitive film into the main frame of the image-forming apparatus,
the film containing means for containing said photosensitive film in it;
a conveying means, which conveys the films stacked on the film containing means one by one from uppermost one, and which is movable between at least two positions of a film conveying position when the film is conveyed into the main frame of the image-forming apparatus and a film supplying position when the films are supplied onto the film stacking means;
a first shading means that contains both the film containing means and the conveying means, and that has a conveyance opening from which the photosensitive film is conveyed out by the conveying means so as to maintain a light-shading state for both the film containing means and the conveying means when the conveying means parks at said film conveying position;
a second shading means, being movable relative to the first shading means, for opening and closing the conveyance opening;
are provided integrally and drawably from the main frame of the image-forming apparatus and
a shading-piece opening/closing means for opening/closing the second shading means is provided.
According to the invention mentioned above, since shading-plate opening/closing means opens and closes a second shading means, when a film sheet is jammed for example, it is possible to close the second shading means by the shading piece opening/closing means, and during the jam processing in the image recording apparatus mainframe, the operation can be carried out without exposing to light the film sheets in the film containing means.
Further, even in the case where a conveying means of a roller type which has a possibility of jamming of a film sheet higher than a conveying means of a suction-board type, because the conveying means of a roller type can be taken out from the image recording apparatus mainframe together with the first shading means and the second shading means as a united body, the number of film sheets to be made useless by the jam processing can be suppressed.
Further, in the case where a film sheet is jammed on the way from the conveying-out opening to the image recording apparatus mainframe, when the first shading means is drawn out from the image recording mainframe, the second shading means grips the jammed film sheet while closing the conveying-out opening. That is, the drawing-out of the first shading means makes it possible to take out the jammed film sheet together. Then, by taking out the film sheet gripped by the second shading means, the jam processing can be easily carried out without exposing to light the film sheets contained in the film sheet containing portion.
Still further, since the conveying means is movable between at least two positions, at the time of supplying film sheets, it is possible to move the conveying means to the film supplying position, that is, to a position not to hinder the supply of film sheets, which makes it possible to carry out the supply of film sheets easily.
(8) The film conveying apparatus, described in item 7, characterized in that
a shutter means for shading an end portion of a barrier sack to be opened, when the barrier sack, in which the plurality of photosensitive films are packed, is stored in the film containing means; and
a shutter driving means for driving the shutter means;
are provided, and
the shutter driving means drives the shutter means so as to shade the end portion of the barrier sack while the conveying means moves from the film supplying position to the film conveying position.
According to the invention mentioned above, since the shutter driving means drives the shutter means so as to shade the end portion of the barrier sack while the conveying means moves from the film supplying position to the film conveying position, after the supply of film sheets until the start of carrying-in of a film sheet, that is, until the stripping of the barrier sack from the film sheets, the shutter means can shade the one end portion of the barrier sack unsealed. In other words, in the film conveying apparatus loaded with film sheets covered by the barrier sack, while the shading of film sheets before being carried in is secured, the same effect as the invention set forth in item 6 can be obtained at the time of jam processing.
(9) The film conveying apparatus, described in item 6 or item 8, characterized in that
when the second shading member is closed, the shading-piece opening/closing means makes it possible to draw the first shading means from the main frame of the image-forming apparatus.
According to the invention mentioned above, since the shading-piece opening/closing means makes it possible to draw the first shading means from the main frame of the image-forming apparatus when the second shading member is closed, in case that the first shading means is drawn out from the image recording apparatus mainframe, it is practiced to close the second shading means, and the shading of film sheets in the film containing means at the time of drawing out can be kept, which makes it possible to prevent fogging of the film.
(10) The film conveying apparatus, described in anyone of items 7-9, characterized in that
the shading-piece opening/closing means opens the second shading means after the conveying means moves to the film conveying position.
According to the invention mentioned above, since the shading-piece opening/closing means opens the second shading means after the conveying means moves to the film conveying position, when the conveyance of film is started, it is possible that the second shading means is made to come to the opening position, to retract from the conveyance path of film sheets. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent that the second shading means damages a film sheet during conveyance.
(11) The film conveying apparatus, described in anyone of items 7-9, characterized in that,
when the shading-piece opening/closing means closes the second shading means, the second shading means is driven by an urging force for moving the second shading member so as to close the second shading means.
According to the invention mentioned above, since the second shading means is driven by an urging force for moving the second shading member so as to close the second shading means when the shading-piece opening/closing means closes the second shading means, even in the case where the second shading means is brought to the closing position, an urging force always acts so as to maintain the closing position. That is, it is possible to prevent that the film sheets in the film conveying apparatus is exposed to light at the time of jam processing.